Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q30/00—Commerce
  • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the field of medicine. More particularly, the invention relates to compounds, pharmaceutical compositions and uses thereof for the treatment of cancers.
• Cancer refers to more than one hundred clinically distinct forms of the disease. Almost every tissue of the body can give rise to cancer and some can even yield several types of cancer. Cancer is characterized by an abnormal growth of cells which can invade the tissue of origin or spread to other sites. In fact, the seriousness of a particular cancer, or the degree of malignancy, is based upon the propensity of cancer cells for invasion and the ability to spread. That is, various human cancers (e.g., carcinomas) differ appreciably as to their ability to spread from a primary site or tumor and metastasize throughout the body. Indeed, it is the process of tumor metastasis which is detrimental to the survival of the cancer patient.
• carcinomas e.g., carcinomas
• a surgeon can remove a primary tumor, but a cancer that has metastasized often reaches too many places to permit a surgical cure.
• cancer cells must detach from their original location, invade a blood or lymphatic vessel, travel in the circulation to a new site, and establish a tumor.
• chemotherapeutic agents also referred to as cytotoxic drugs.
• chemotherapeutic agents suffer from two major limitations. First, chemotherapeutic agents are not specific for cancer cells and particularly at high doses, they are toxic to normal rapidly dividing cells. Second, with time and repeated use cancer cells develop resistance to chemotherapeutic agents thereby providing no further benefit to the patient.
• digital flyers are created by scanning each page of the printed flyers. In order to obtain high quality images, scanning must be done at a sufficiently high resolution. Alternatively, digital flyers may be provided by the retailers, which would also be used to print the paper version of the flyers. With the digital images, the digital flyer is created by stitching together the various images in a sequence that corresponds to the paper version of the same flyer. However, because of the size of the digital image, there is often associated a slow browsing time. Moreover, because the flyer is simply an image, there are little additional functions and information associated with the digital flyer.
• More advanced systems for providing digital flyers do exist. Such systems allow for a more fluid browser experience such as the ability to zoom-in and zoom-out of the image and have mechanisms to provide additional information about each item in the flyer (e.g. product description).
• the advanced systems rely on browser plug-in such as Adobe® Flash or other proprietary framework that requires a bulky initial download and lengthy installation.
• the proprietary digital flyer system that runs on such proprietary framework are complex and requires significant resources on the client's device (such as a PC, Mac, smartphones, tablets and any other communications devices) to run smoothly.
• digital flyers like traditional paper flyers
• digital and printed flyers may provide feedback about viewer's interest in a particular product through coupons (in printed flyers) or click-throughs of manually tagged items (in digital flyers).
• a communication device for displaying a digital flyer includes a user interface for receiving a request for the digital flyer, the digital flyer comprising one or more flyer image; a communication module configured to request for the digital flyer at a zoom level, the request including information related to a viewport of the communication device; and receive a flyer image tile within a flyer image tile set of the requested digital flyer associated with the zoom level, the set including multiple copies of the digital flyer segmented into tiles with each copy representing the digital flyer at one of a plurality of zoom levels.
• the communication device also includes a display for displaying the flyer image tile.
• a method of displaying a digital flyer on a communication device includes requesting at the communication device for a digital flyer at a zoom level, the digital flyer comprising one or more flyer image, the request including information related to a viewport of the communication device; receiving a flyer image tile within a flyer image tile set of the requested digital flyer associated with the zoom level, the set including multiple copies of the digital flyer segmented into tiles with each copy representing the digital flyer at one of a plurality of zoom levels; and displaying the flyer image tile on the communication device.
• a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions in code which when loaded into a memory and executed by a processor of a communication device causes the communication device to perform the method of displaying a digital flyer as specified above is disclosed.
• an interactive digital flyer system includes a flyer image tiler for creating a flyer image tile set for a digital flyer, the digital flyer comprising one or more flyer image, the flyer image tile set comprising multiple copies of the digital flyer, with each copy of the digital flyer representing the digital flyer at one of a plurality of zoom levels and being segmented into a plurality of flyer image tiles; and a flyer image tile store for storing the flyer image tile set.
• a method of creating a flyer image tile set using a flyer image includes determining a first dimension associated with a resolution of a viewport of a communication device; determining a first scaling factor for scaling the flyer image to fit within the first dimension of the viewport; determining a second dimension associated with a resolution required to display the flyer image at sufficient detail; determining a second scaling factor for scaling the flyer image to fit within the second dimension; determining a range between the first and second scaling factors, the range being used to determine a plurality of zoom levels; and generating a copy of the flyer image at each of the plurality of zoom levels, the copy being segmented into tiles.
• a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions in code which when loaded into a memory and executed by a processor of a communication device causes the communication device to perform the method of creating a flyer image tile set using a flyer image as specified above is disclosed.
• a method of processing a digital flyer includes receiving a request for a digital flyer at a zoom level, the digital flyer comprising one or more flyer image, the request including information related to a viewport of the communication device; retrieving from a flyer image tile store a flyer image tile within a flyer image tile set of the requested digital flyer, the set including multiple copies of the digital flyer segmented into tiles with each copy representing the digital flyer at one of a plurality of zoom levels; and sending the retrieved flyer image tile to the communication device.
• a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions in code which when loaded into a memory and executed by a processor of a communication device causes the communication device to perform the method of processing a digital flyer as specified above is disclosed.
• a method of displaying a digital flyer with contextual information in a viewport of a communication device includes receiving a source flyer image and polygon mapping information associated with a digital flyer from a server, the polygon mapping information comprising a polygon for defining a polygonal area on the source flyer image, the polygon being tagged with contextual information; and overlaying the source flyer image with the polygon mapping information.
• a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions in code which when loaded into a memory and executed by a processor of a communication device causes the communication device to perform the method of displaying a digital flyer with contextual information in a viewport of a communication device as specified above is disclosed.
• a system for contextualizing a digital flyer includes a polygon mapping module for incorporating contextual information in the digital flyer using polygon mapping information, the polygon mapping information comprising a polygon for defining a polygonal area on a source flyer image of the digital flyer, the polygon being tagged with the contextual information; and a flyer data store for storing the tagged polygon.
• a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions in code which when loaded into a memory and executed by a processor of a communication device causes the communication device to perform the method of displaying a digital flyer comprising a flyer image tile set on a communication device as specified above is disclosed.
• a communication device includes a pre-loading module configured to retrieve a first and a second set of flyer image tiles from a flyer image tile set stored in memory, the first set of flyer image tiles being associated with the most zoomed-out state and the second set of flyer image tiles being associated with the current zoom level of a viewport of the communication device, the pre-loading module further configured to associate the first set of flyer image tiles with an underlay viewport and the second set of flyer image tiles with a current viewport; and a display configured to display the first set of flyer image tiles that are visible in the viewport and overlay the second set of flyer image tiles visible in the viewport onto the first set of flyer image tiles.
• a method of managing memory of an interactive flyer system includes determining that the memory requires management; ordering flyer image tiles stored in the memory in z- order; and for each top z-order flyer image tile, determining portion of the flyer image tiles stored in the memory that is covered by the top z-order flyer image tile, and removing from the memory the determined portion of the flyer image tiles.
• a communication device includes memory for storing one or more flyer image tiles associated with a digital flyer and memory management module configured to execute on one or more processors.
• the memory management module includes instructions to determine that the memory requires management; order the one or more flyer image tiles stored in the memory in z-order; and for each top z-order flyer image tile, determine portion of the one or more flyer image tiles stored in the memory that is covered by the top z-order flyer image tile, and remove from the memory the determined portion of the one or more flyer image tiles.
• a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions in code which when loaded into a memory and executed by a processor of a communication device causes the communication device to perform the method of managing memory of an interactive flyer system as specified above is disclosed.
• FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a communication system in which an embodiment of the present technology may be applied;
• FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an interactive flyer system according to an embodiment of the present technology
• FIG. 3 illustrates the layers of an interactive flyer according to an embodiment of the present technology
• FIG. 4A illustrates an interactive flyer at the most zoomed-out level configured to fit within a viewport of a display of a communication device
• FIG. 4B illustrates the interactive flyer of FIG. 4A at the next zoom level
• FIG. 5 shows a process for generating the interactive flyer according to an embodiment of the present technology
• FIG. 6 illustrates a process for preparing a flyer image for use in the base layer as shown in FIG. 3 in generating an interactive flyer
• FIG. 7 illustrates a process for segmenting the flyer image according to an embodiment of the present technology
• FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary flyer image tile set segmented using a binary zoom ratio
• FIG. 9 illustrates another exemplary flyer image tile set segmented using a flexible zoom ratio
• FIG. 10A depicts a process for a communication device for requesting and receiving a flyer image tile set at an initial zoom level
• FIG. 10B depicts a process for an interactive flyer system for responding to a request as described in FIG. 10A;
• FIG. 11 A depicts a process for a communication device for requesting and receiving a flyer image tile based on viewer action;
• FIG. 11 B depicts a process for an interactive flyer system for responding to a request as described in FIG. 1 1A;
• FIG. 12 shows a flyer image contextualized through polygon mapping according to an embodiment of the present technology
• FIG. 13 illustrates a process for contextualizing a flyer image using polygons
• FIG. 14 illustrates a process for displaying a digital flyer with contextual information
• FIG. 15 illustrates an embodiment of navigational information generated using polygon mapping
• FIG. 16 shows a process for generating the embodiment as shown in FIG. 15 using the polygon mapping information
• FIG. 17 illustrates another embodiment of navigation information generated using polygon mapping
• FIG. 18 shows a process for generating one of the embodiments as shown in FIG. 17 using the polygon mapping information
• FIG. 19A shows a process for generating one of the embodiments as shown in FIG. 17 using the polygon mapping information
• FIG. 19B shows the visual representation of the process in FIG. 19A
• FIG. 20 shows a process for generating one of the embodiments as shown in FIG. 17 using the polygon mapping information
• FIG. 21 illustrates a process for generating related information using contextual information contained in another related flyer
• FIG. 22 illustrates the related information generated using the process in FIG. 21 ;
• FIG. 23A illustrates a snapshot of a viewer's viewport constructed using device information and polygon mapping information according to an embodiment of the present technology
• FIG. 23B illustrates the snapshot of FIG. 23A with an altered viewport size
• FIG. 24 illustrates a process for generating feedback using the device information and polygon mapping information according to an embodiment of the present technology
• FIG. 25 depicts an embodiment of a feedback report generated using feedback data stored in the feedback system
• FIG. 26 depicts another embodiment of a feedback report generated using feedback data stored in the feedback system
• FIG. 27 depicts a process implementing a feedback system according to another embodiment of the present technology
• FIG. 28 depicts another embodiment of a feedback report generated using feedback data stored in the feedback system
• FIG. 29 illustrates an embodiment for predictively caching the flyer image tiles by using the feedback data stored in the feedback system
• FIG. 30 illustrates another embodiment for predictively caching the flyer image tiles by using contextual information conveyed through polygon mapping information
• FIG. 31 illustrates a process for pre-loading flyer image tiles according to an embodiment of the present disclosure
• FIG. 32 illustrates an embodiment for pre-loading flyer image tiles by using an underlay viewport
• FIG. 33 illustrates how the underlay viewport is used with the current viewport
• FIG. 34A illustrates another embodiment of the pre-loading method
• FIG. 34B illustrates an exemplary situation the pre-loading method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may address
• FIG. 35 illustrates how the exemplary situation shown in FIG. 33B may be addressed by an embodiment of the pre-loading method disclosed in this disclosure;
• FIG. 36A illustrates two sets of flyer image tiles, one having flexible zoom levels and the other having inflexible zoom levels;
• FIG. 36B illustrates the two sets of flyer images tiles in FIG. 35A with one of the four tiles loaded
• FIG. 37 illustrates a method for managing memory according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
• FIGs 38A-38E illustrates how the memory management in FIG. 36 proceeds visually.
• fuseer as described above, will be used generally to refer to forms of marketing that includes information about the wares and services that businesses offer. “Flyer” may also be known as circulars, pamphlets, handbills, leaflets, ads, catalogues, parts books, and trade literatures. In this specification, the term “flyer” will be used to collectively refer to the aforementioned forms of marketing.
• interactive flyer may be used interchangeably to refer to a flyer generated by an interactive flyer system according to an embodiment of the present technology.
• the terms “left”, “right”, “up”, and “bottom” in the present disclosure refers generally to the direction with respect to the viewport of the communication device. It will be understood that these terms are relative to the orientation of the viewport.
• the term “device information” refers to information about the communication device.
• the device information may include viewport information, timezone of the device, date and time at which the communication device is being operated, IP address, geographic locale, operating system, Internet browser information and other information.
• the viewport information is information related to the viewport of the communication device, including information about the display of the communication device.
• the term "feedback information" refers to information used in generating a feedback report.
• the feedback information may include device information sent from the communication device to determine, in conjunction with polygon mapping information, pageviews to generate the feedback report.
• the feedback information may include viewscore of each flyer image tile, which may be used to generate the feedback report.
• the term "user” in the present disclosure is used to refer to any user of the interactive flyer system including publishers, vendors and viewers.
• the term "publisher” refers to the user of the interactive flyer system responsible for preparing the interactive digital flyer according to an embodiment of the present technology.
• vendor or “merchant” in this disclosure may be used interchangeably to refer to the business using the interactive digital flyer for marketing and business purposes.
• viewer refers to the user of the interactive flyer system viewing the interactive digital flyer according to an embodiment of the present technology.
• wireless communication technology is intended to describe any communication protocol that enables a communication device to communicate with a server without wires.
• wireless communication protocol may include IEEE 802.11x standards (sometimes referred to as Wi-Fi) such as, for example, the IEEE 802.11a, 802.11 b, 802.11g, and/or 802.11 ⁇ standard.
• IEEE 802.16e also referred to as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access or "WiMAX”
• IEEE 802.20 also referred to as Mobile Wireless Broadband Access
• Mobitex Radio Network, DataTAC GPRS (General Packet Radio System)
• GPRS General Packet Radio System
• TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
• CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
• CDMA 2000 and UTRA Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
• FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access
• OFDMA Orthogonal FDMA
• SC-FDMA Single-Carrier FDMA
• CDPD Cellular Digital Packet Data
• iDEN integrated Digital Enhanced Network
• EvDO Evolution-Data Optimized
• EDGE Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution
• UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems
• HSPDA High-Speed Downlink Packet Access
• Other communication protocols include: IEEE 802.16e (also referred to as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access or "WiMAX”); IEEE 802.20 (also referred
• FIG. 1 there is shown a block diagram of a communication system 100 in which an embodiment of the present technology can be applied. It should be expressly understood that this figure is intentionally simplified to show only certain main components. The communication system 100 may include other components beyond what is illustrated in FIG. 1.
• the communication system 100 includes a number of communication devices 102,104, 106 which may be connected to the communication system 100 in any of several different ways. Accordingly, three different types of communication devices 102, 104, 106 are depicted in FIG. 1 employing different exemplary ways of connecting to the communication system 100. It should be expressly understood that communication devices other than those shown in FIG. 1 may be used to connect to the communication system 100. Communication devices 102, 104, 106 may be connected to the server 160 using wireless technologies or wired communication technologies.
• communication devices 102, 104 may connect to the server 160 using wireless communication technology 110.
• wireless technology 110 there may be provided one or more wireless RF Access Points (AP) 112 and base station 1 4.
• AP wireless RF Access Points
• communication device 106 may connect to the server 160 using wired communication technology 120 such as IEEE 802.3 standard.
• wired communication technology 120 such as IEEE 802.3 standard.
• Other wired communication technologies may be contemplated by a skilled person in the art.
• communication devices 102, 104, 106 connect to the network gateway 130.
• the internal network 150 is typically behind a firewall 140, which serves to safeguard the internal network 150 from unauthorized access. Only authorized communication devices 102, 104, 106 are granted access to the server 160.
• FIG. 2 a block diagram of an interactive flyer system 200 is shown. It should be expressly understood that this figure is intentionally simplified to show only certain main components.
• the interactive flyer system 200 may include other components beyond what is illustrated in FIG. 2.
• the interactive flyer system 200 may be implemented in the server 160.
• the interactive flyer system 200 may be implemented in a distributed environment.
• the interactive flyer system 200 includes a flyer image tiler 210 and a flyer image tile store 220. Additionally, the interactive flyer system 200 may include components for contextualizing the interactive flyer. The components may include a polygon mapping module 230 and a flyer data store 240. Furthermore, the interactive flyer system 200 may also include a feedback data store 250 and a feedback data analyzer 260. While the components of the interactive flyer system 200 are shown in FIG. 2 as distinct components, it will be understood that they may be implemented as a single component or grouped in any combination of components. Moreover, some of the components may reside externally. For example, the flyer image tile store 220 may be located remotely and accessed when generating the interactive flyer. The flyer image tile store 220, flyer data store 240, and feedback data store 250 may be implemented in any form of memory such as, but not limited to, random access memory (RAM), flash memory, magnetic disk, solid state drives or other forms of storage format.
• RAM random access memory
• flash memory magnetic disk
• solid state drives or other
• an interactive digital flyer comprises a base layer, a geometry layer and, optionally, a data layer.
• the base layer includes a source flyer image.
• the source flyer image is a flyer image tile set having at least one flyer image tile.
• the flyer image tile set includes multiple copies of the flyer image at various zoom levels, with a copy of the flyer image at the most zoomed-out level being sized and formatted to fit within the resolution of the viewport of the communication device. Each copy of the flyer image at the varying zoom levels is segmented into tiles.
• the geometry layer contains co-ordinate and scaling information associated with the flyer image tiles.
• the interactive digital flyer may also include a data layer.
• Flyer data may include polygon mapping information, product data, point of interest information, feedback data and other information that will be discussed below. It will be understood that the interactive flyer may include a single data layer containing all the flyer data or may include multiple data layers with each data layer containing a type of flyer data. For example, first data layer may include polygon mapping data, second data layer may include product data, and so on.
• the combination of these layers thus provides for an advanced interactive flyer.
• the base layer comprising of at least one set of flyer image tiles and the geometry layer enables the interactive flyer system 200 to provide advanced features such as zoom and pan without any additional proprietary software such as Adobe® Flash or Microsoft® Silverlight when used in a web browser.
• the data layer provides contextual information that can be used in variety of ways to provide for advanced features. Where interactive flyer system 200 includes a feedback system, the data layer may be dynamically updated according to viewer behaviour. Thus the interactive flyer can change with viewer actions.
• the interactive flyer comprises of several layers of information.
• the interactive flyer includes the source flyer image.
• the base layer 300 comprises multiple sets (e.g. 300a, 300b, 300c) of the flyer image for various screen resolutions, with each set including multiple copies (e.g. 300a1 , 300a2, 300a3) of the flyer image and with each copy being the flyer image at a particular zoom level.
• the base layer 300 includes three sets (300a, 300b, and 300c) of the flyer image, each set for different resolution of a viewport of a communication device.
• each set there contains multiple copies (e.g. 300a1 , 300a2, 300a3) of the flyer image, with each copy representing a zoom level.
• each set (300a, 300b and 300c) is shown with three zoom levels (or two zoom steps) (e.g. 300a 1 , 300a2, and 300a3), with each copy of the flyer image in the set being segmented into tiles.
• there are at least one set of flyer images e.g.
• 300a, 300b, 300c where the most zoomed-out level of the flyer image in the set (e.g. 300a1 , 300b1 or 300c1) is configured such that the entire flyer image fits within the viewport.
• the most zoomed-out level flyer image in the set e.g. 300a1 , 300b1 , 300c1 is configured to fit three different resolutions of a viewport.
• 300a1 , 300b1 and 300c1 may be the flyer images for a communication device having resolutions 1024 by 768, 1280 by 800, and 1920 by 1080. From that zoomed-out level, each copy thereafter represents the flyer image at an increasing zoom level.
• FIG. 3 depicts three sets of the flyer image, it will be understood that there may be more or less than three sets of the flyer image. The details of segmenting the flyer image will be described in further details below.
• the interactive flyer further includes a geometry layer 302 that provides a reference system in the digital space for the tiled flyer images.
• the geometry layer 302 may include a 2D X-Y coordinate system and scaling system to allow the digital flyer to seamlessly pan and zoom using the tiled images.
• FIG. 4A a screen 400 is shown with its viewport 402 occupying a majority of the screen space.
• a flyer image 404 configured to fit the entire flyer image 404 within the viewport 402.
• the most zoomed-out view of the flyer image 404 in the tile set is configured to fit within the viewport 402.
• a coordinate and scaling system may be used.
• the coordinate system may designate the bottom left comer of the flyer image 404 as the starting coordinate (0,0). This allows the interactive flyer system 200 to determine where and how the viewer interacted with the flyer image 404. For example, if the viewer hovers using a mouse pointer 406 as shown in FIG. 4A and requests a zoom-in action (e.g. using a scroll wheel), the interactive flyer system 200 may determine which flyer image tile to retrieve as follows. First, using the coordinate system, the system is able to determine where in the flyer image the mouse pointer 406 is hovering.
• the system may utilize the resolution (e.g. DPI (dots per inch)) of the flyer image.
• the system may retrieve the tiled images in the next zoom level that is displayable within the viewport 402.
• FIG. 4B depicts the flyer image 410 at the next zoom level.
• the flyer image 410 at the next zoom level is greater in resolution and thus, larger than the flyer image 404 at the previous zoom level.
• the system retrieves the shaded flyer image tiles 412 that are displayable within the viewport 402.
• the appropriate flyer image tiles are loaded and shown in the viewport 402.
• the interactive flyer may also include a data layer 304 that provides flyer-related information such as context (i.e. polygon mapping information as it will described below), product data, points of interest and feedback information.
• context i.e. polygon mapping information as it will described below
• product data i.e. polygon mapping information as it will described below
• points of interest i.e. polygon mapping information as it will described below
• an interactive flyer is generated by creating a base layer comprising at least one flyer image tile within a flyer image tile set (i.e. 500 in FIG. 5).
• Each flyer image tile set represents the flyer image configured for common resolutions of a display of a communication device. For example, there may be two sets of flyer image tiles with one set configured for a display having 1920 by 1080 resolution and the other set configured for a display having 1024 by 768 resolution.
• each set there contains multiple copies of the flyer image, with each copy representing the flyer image at a particular zoom level. Furthermore, each copy of the flyer image is segmented into tiles.
• a geometry layer is defined with the geometry layer containing co-ordinate and scaling information about the flyer image tiles (i.e. 502 in FIG. 5).
• the interactive flyer may further include creating a data layer having flyer-related information (i.e. 504 in FIG. 5).
• the data layer may further include context, points of interest, product specific data and feedback information. As discussed above, there may be one or more data layers incorporating the flyer-related information.
• FIG. 5 depicts a process comprising process elements 500, 502 and 504 in order, it will be understood that the process elements 500, 502 and 504 may be carried out in other orders. It will also be understood that other process depicted in other figures may also be carried out in other orders as reasonably contemplated.
• preparation of the flyer image tile set for use in the base layer of the interactive flyer begins with obtaining the flyer image.
• the flyer image may be provided by the retailer or may be scanned from the printed-version of the flyer.
• the flyer image is then normalized (i.e. 600 in FIG. 6). Normalization refers to the process of manipulating the flyer image to conform the flyer image to a standard format. This may entail applying some form of image processing, such as crop, image alignment, image adjustment and image scaling.
• the normalized flyer image is then segmented into tiles (i.e. 602 in FIG. 6).
• Tiles are portions of the flyer image at varying resolutions optimized for different screen sizes and resolutions. Because of the bounded nature of a flyer, the flyer image is optimized such that, at the most zoomed-out level, the full image of the flyer fits within the dimensions of the viewport, while at the most zoomed-in level, the flyer page includes the necessary level of details. For example, if the flyer page includes fine prints, the most zoomed-in level should include sufficient level of detail to allow the viewer to read the fine prints.
• the flyer image tiler 210 uses this range (i.e. the most zoomed-out to zoomed-in level) as reference, the flyer image tiler 210 generates multiple copies of the flyer image at different resolutions, with each copy representing the flyer image at increasing zoom level. In other words, with the range determined, the flyer image tiler 210 generates a copy of the flyer image for each zoom level, with each copy containing more resolutions than the previous copy to provide greater level of detail. These multiple copies represent one set of the flyer image tiles (e.g. 300a in FIG. 3) and the process is repeated for other commonly known resolutions of display screens (e.g. 300b and 300c in FIG. 3). The generated tiles, the normalized flyer image, and the information related to the flyer image (i.e. coordinate system and zoom levels) may then be stored in the flyer image tile store 220 (i.e. 604 in FIG. 6).
• the flyer image tile store 220 i.e. 604 in FIG. 6
• the flyer image tiler 210 determines the dimension associated with the resolution of the viewport (i.e. 700 in FIG. 7). Using the dimension, the flyer image tiler 210 determines a first scaling factor (" ⁇ 1") for scaling the flyer image so that the entire flyer image fits within the determined dimension (i.e. 702 in FIG. 7).
• the flyer image tiler 210 determines the dimension associated with a resolution required to display the flyer image at sufficient detail (i.e. 704 in FIG. 7). For example, the flyer may contain fine prints that require a particular resolution for the viewer to be able to read the fine prints. Using this dimension, the flyer image tiler 210 is able to determine a second scaling factor (" ⁇ 2") for scaling the flyer image such that the image includes the requisite details at the most zoomed-in (i.e. blown up) state (i.e. 706 in FIG. 7). [00112] The flyer image tiler 210 then determines the range ("R") between the first and second scaling factor (i.e. 708 in FIG. 7).
• the flyer image tiler 210 then generates a copy of the flyer image at each zoom level between the range, with each copy being segmented into tiles (i.e. 710 in FIG. 7).
• each zoom level is 2 times the previous zoom level (i.e. FIG. 8).
• the zoom level is flexible to allow the system to choose the most appropriate zoom ratio given the range and the number of zoom steps required (i.e. FIG. 9).
• the number of zoom steps is inflexible because each zoom level is 2 times the previous zoom level.
• the zoom ratio is 2 and the number of zoom steps is determined by this zoom ratio.
• the system determines the smallest power of 2 that is equal to or greater than the range, which will be hereinafter referred to as Rp. For example, if the range required is 12, the system determines Rp to be 16 (2 4 ). This means that 4 zoom steps (i.e. transition steps between 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x and 16x) are required to achieve a range of 12. Because 12 is not a power of 2, the system determines Rp, which serves to ensure that the system provides equal or greater level of detail. In this example, to achieve a range of 12 using a zoom level of 2, the system determines that minimum of 4 zoom steps are required.
• a tile set 800 for a given screen resolution is shown.
• the flyer image tiler 210 determines the available screen dimension (i.e. height and width) and determines the scaling factor (i.e. ⁇ 1) required to fit the entire flyer image within the screen of the communication device.
• the flyer image tiler 210 may retrieve or receive a list of common resolutions of viewer's screens (e.g. 1920 by 1080, 1280 by 800 and 1024 by 768) and determine the scaling factor (i.e. ⁇ 1) to fit the flyer image within each of the common resolution in the list. Thereafter, for each common resolution in the list, the system may generate multiple copies of the flyer image at each zoom level, with each copies of the flyer image being segmented into tiles.
• the flyer image tiles for each common resolution makes up a tile set. For example, in FIG. 3, there are three sets of flyer image tiles for three different screen resolutions.
• the number of zoom steps is flexible, with each zoom level not being necessarily twice the previous zoom level. In other words, the zoom ratio is not necessarily 2.
• the system is able to provide exactly the required range of 12.
• the system determines the appropriate zoom steps ("S") to transition from viewing the full flyer within the viewport to viewing the flyer at the finest detail level.
• S the zoom ratio
• the system determines the zoom ratio to be 2.29. The resulting zoom levels for the
• the system may generate a plurality of tile sets 910 of the flyer image 912 where the system retrieves or receives a list of common resolutions.
• zoom level 8x does not add much value to the range in the flyer image tile set, and thus, the flyer image tiles at zoom level 8x may be eliminated.
• zoom levels would exist - i.e. 1x, 2x, 4x, and 16x.
• zoom level 2.29x is redundant or unnecessary.
• the flyer image tiles in the zoom level 2.29x may be eliminated, resulting in only 2 zoom steps or 3 zoom levels: 1x, 5.24x and 12x.
• an intermediate zoom level may be added. For example, a halfway zoom level between 5.24x and 12x (i.e. 8.62x) may be added to improve the viewer's browsing experience.
• the system may remove one of the copies of the tiled flyer image from the flyer image tile set that corresponds to one of the plurality of zoom levels. Conversely, the system may add a new copy of the tiled flyer image into the flyer image tile set corresponding to a new zoom level that is absent from the plurality of zoom levels.
• the communication device communicates with the interactive flyer system 200 to display an interactive digital flyer.
• the communication device requests for an interactive digital flyer at an initial zoom level, with the request comprising device information of the communication device (i.e. 1000 in FIG. 10A).
• the device information may include viewport information such as viewport size and resolution. It will be understood that device information may include more than viewport information such as information related to the device such as locale information, IP address, and other device related information that may be used by the interactive flyer system 200.
• the interactive flyer system 200 receives the request for the digital flyer at the initial zoom level (i.e. 1010 in FIG.
• the flyer image tile set includes multiple copies of the flyer image segmented into tiles with each copy representing the flyer image at a zoom level. Since the flyer image tile at the initial zoom level was requested, the flyer image tile set associated with the resolution of the viewport of the communication device is selected. Thereafter, the flyer image tile, within the flyer image tile set, representing the most zoomed-out view configured to fit within the viewport of the communication device is retrieved. After retrieval, the flyer image tile retrieved is sent and received by the communication device (e.g. 1002 and 1014 in FIGs. 10A and 10B, respectively). The received flyer image tile is then displayed in the viewport of the communication device (i.e. 1004 in FIG. 10A).
• the communication device e.g. 1002 and 1014 in FIGs. 10A and 10B, respectively.
• the received flyer image tile is then displayed in the viewport of the communication device (i.e. 1004 in FIG. 10A).
• the system 200 may retrieve flyer-related information associated with the flyer.
• the flyer-related information may be contextual information defined through polygon mapping, as it will be discussed below.
• flyer-related information may be point of interest, product specific or feedback information. Details relating to flyer-related information will be further described below.
• the communication device displays the digital flyer at the initial zoom level, the viewer may perform a viewer action, such as zoom or pan. Based on the viewer action, the communication device may further request for a new flyer image tile to be displayed in the viewport of the communication (i.e. 1100 in FIG. 11 A), with the request comprising device information.
• the device information may include viewport information such as the location coordinates and the zoom level of the viewport (i.e. information from the geometry layer).
• viewport information such as the location coordinates and the zoom level of the viewport (i.e. information from the geometry layer).
• the system 200 retrieves from the flyer image tile store 220 flyer image tile that is associated with the viewer action and displayable within the viewport of the communication device (i.e. 1 2 in FIG. 11B). The received new flyer image tile is then displayed in the viewport of the communication device (i.e. 1104 in FIG. 11A).
• the system may retrieve a flyer image tile that is not yet displayable in the viewport of the communication device but to be cached at the communication device for future retrieval.
• a flyer image tile that is not yet displayable in the viewport of the communication device but to be cached at the communication device for future retrieval.
• performance is improved at both the communication device and the interactive flyer system.
• caching may be based on the information included therein to increase the hit rate of the cache. For example, caching may be based on the feedback information included in a feedback store, the device information included in the request, or flyer-related information included in a flyer data store.
• the flyer image tile(s) is sent and received by the communication device to be displayed or cached at the communication (i.e. 1102 and 1114 in FIGs. 11A and 11 B).
• the system may comprise of a polygon mapping module 230 and a flyer data store 240 as depicted in FIG. 2. While the present disclosure describes the polygon mapping module 230 and flyer data store 240 as being a subsystem of the interactive flyer system 200, it will be understood that it may be implemented as a single system or as a separate and distinct system (e.g. external to the interactive flyer system 200). It will also be understood that the system for contextualizing the interactive flyer may be distributed across several systems. For example, the flyer data store 240 may be part of the interactive flyer system 200 while the polygon mapping module 230 may be separately implemented. [00125] Now also referring to FIGs.
• the system includes a polygon mapping module 230 for contextualizing the interactive flyer.
• the polygon mapping module 230 may use polygon mapping information that includes at least one polygon for defining a polygonal area on the source flyer image representing one or more pages of the digital flyer. Thereafter, the polygon(s) is tagged with the contextual information.
• the polygon mapping module 230 defines the polygonal area on a flyer page using a polygon and tags the polygon with contextual information (i.e. 1300 and 1302 in FIG. 13).
• source flyer image generally refers to the underlying image source for the interactive digital flyer.
• the source flyer image may be a non-tiled image representing the digital flyer.
• the source flyer image may include a flyer image tile set as discussed above and exemplified in FIG. 3.
• the polygon mapping module 230 may include an interface that allows a publisher, vendor or viewer to define the polygons and tag the polygons with the contextual information.
• the publisher may prepare the interactive digital flyer using the information given from the vendor, including incorporating contextual information through the polygon mapping module 230.
• the vendor may then incorporate the contextual information through a vendor-only portal.
• viewers may be crowdsourced to define the polygons using the polygon mapping module 230.
• the polygon mapping module 230 may automatically define and tag the polygons based on predetermined information. This predetermined information may be provided by the vendor based on an agreed format of the digital flyer or may be based on feedback information from a feedback data store (e.g. 250 in FIG. 2).
• the interface of the polygon mapping module 230 may allow the publisher, vendor or viewer (e.g. crowdsourced) to define a point of interest on the digital flyer.
• a point of interest is an indication on the digital flyer intended to draw the viewer's attention. For example, it may point out popular items, severely discounted products or a product promoted by the vendor.
• the point of interest may also be defined by the polygon mapping module 230 based on predetermined information as discussed above.
• the interactive flyer may be contextualized without individually tagging or labelling the items in the interactive flyer. Rather, polygonal area may be used on the flyer page to convey contextual information that conveys categorical or sectional information such as "Electronics” and “Computers” as shown in FIG. 12. This greatly reduces the time it takes to give meaning to the content included in a digital flyer. However, it will be understood, and will be further described below, that the polygons may be used to define polygonal areas at finer granular level, such as product or item level. This polygon mapping information may be stored in the flyer data store 240.
• top-level polygons 1202, 1204, 1206 and 1208 there are “top-level” polygons 1202, 1204, 1206 and 1208.
• the reference to "top-level” polygon refers to polygons that are not contained in any other polygon. While the polygons in FIG. 12 are generally rectangular in shape (i.e. four sides), it will be understood that polygons may take other forms having any number of sides, so long as the sides form a closed circuit to define an area (i.e. a polygonal area). For ease of illustration, polygon mapping in the present disclosure will be described with polygons having four sides.
• Each of the "top-level” polygons defines a polygonal area 1202a, 1204a, 1206a and 1208a, which demarcates a section of the flyer page 1200 as having a particular contextual relationship.
• each of the "top-level” polygons have been tagged as “Electronics”, “Sales”, “Garden” and “Computer”, which signifies that the items contained within those polygonal area all relate to “Electronics", “Sales”, “Garden” or “Computers”.
• sub- relationships may be defined by using overlapping polygons, such as polygons 1210, 1212 and 1214.
• the sub-level polygons 1210, 1212 and 1214 have been tagged with the labels "TV”, “Laptops” and “Memory”.
• the items contained therein will be one of "TV”, “Laptops” or "Memory”.
• the polygon mapping module 230 may define points of interests, such as points of interests 1220 and 1222. These points may be anything that may be of interest to the viewer such as special discounts, popular items, new items, items like-minded viewers found interesting, and other interesting information.
• the system is able to provide feature-rich information including hierarchical information, enhanced navigation aids, improved caching, comprehensive feedback and other information previously not available in a digital flyer.
• the interactive flyer system may generate navigational information using the polygons.
• the navigational information may be in the form of a table of content, or a navigational strip, or both.
• the polygons may be used to generate feedback information, to better predict caching, and to interlink between related flyers.
• the communication device communicates with the interactive flyer system 200 to display a digital flyer with contextual information.
• the communication device receives a source flyer image and polygon mapping information associated with a digital flyer from a server (i.e. 1400 in FIG. 14).
• the source flyer image may be a non-tiled flyer image or a flyer image tile set as shown in FIG. 3.
• the polygon mapping information refers to polygons used to define a polygonal area on the source flyer image, with each polygon being tagged with contextual information. This polygon mapping information is overlaid on the source flyer image (i.e. 1402 in FIG. 14).
• the polygon mapping information may be included in a data layer (e.g. 304 in FIG. 3) of the digital flyer.
• the polygon mapping information is not shown on the flyer page but rather used to enrich the viewer's experience by generating, for example, navigational information or related information.
• the polygon mapping information may be shown to the user overlaid on top of the flyer page. In such a case, the flyer page may appear similar to flyer page 1200 as shown in FIG. 12.
• the communication device may further receive point of interest information associated with the digital flyer from the server.
• point of interest information may be overlaid over the source flyer image and shown or not shown in the viewport of the communication device.
• the communication device is able to display the digital flyer with feature-rich information.
• feature-rich information may include navigational information and related information as it will be described below.
• the polygon mapping information and the point of interest information may be used in conjunction with feedback information to improve the efficiency and data accuracy by the interactive flyer system.
• One embodiment of navigational information that may be generated using the polygons is a table of content 1500 as shown in FIG. 15.
• the interactive flyer system instead of manually creating a table of content by linking an entry in the table of content with a particular flyer page, the interactive flyer system according to an embodiment of the present technology is able to auto-generate the table of content using the polygon mapping information. This is achieved by analyzing the spatial position and inclusion relationship of the polygons to understand the hierarchical relationship of the polygonal areas defined by the polygons.
• FIG. 16 there is shown one exemplary method for auto-generating the table of content.
• the interactive flyer system looks through the inclusion relationship of the polygons. It first finds all the top-level polygons not contained within any other polygons (i.e. 1600 in FIG. 16). In FIG. 12, the top-level polygons would include polygons tagged as "Electronics", “Sales”, “Computers”, and “Garden”. Thereafter, the system finds all the next-level polygons contained in the top-level polygons found at 1600 but otherwise not contained within any other polygon (i.e. 1602 in FIG. 16). Referring again to FIG.
• next-level polygons would include polygons tagged as "TV”, “Laptops”, and “Memory”.
• the system sets the next-level polygons as the new top-level polygons (i.e. 1604 in FIG. 16) and repeats locating all the next-level polygons until all the polygons are found (i.e. 1606 in FIG. 16).
• the flyer viewer would be able to quickly jump to the flyer page containing the polygon.
• the selected entry of the table of content may be shown by zooming into the associated polygonal area. For example, when the viewer clicks on "TV" in the table of contents 1500, the system may serve the flyer page zoomed into the "TV" polygon.
• the selected entry of the table of content may be shown with the associated polygonal area highlighted. Continuing with the above example, instead of zooming into the "TV" polygon, the whole flyer page may be shown with the "TV" polygonal area highlighted.
• FIG. 17 Another embodiment of the navigational information may be in the form of a navigation strip, several types of which are shown in FIG. 17.
• the navigation strip is an aid that helps the viewer navigate through the entire flyer.
• a mini-map type of navigation aid that consists of small zoomed-out versions of the flyer page is not beneficial to a viewer of digital flyers.
• a navigation strip (or may also be referred to as a "legend") that consists of scaled down versions of the full flyer page would thus fail to convey any meaningful information to the viewer.
• the interactive flyer system uses the polygon mapping information to generate a navigation strip that contains contextual information in compact form. Three possible implementations of the navigation strip will now be described.
• FIG. 17 there is shown a flyer page 1700 simplified to show only the top-level polygons tagged with the labels "Electronics", “Sales”, “Computers”, and “Garden”.
• a point of interest 1702, 1704, 1706 may convey information about a particular item such as discounts at 50% off or $50 off. It may also serve to highlight information that may be of particular interest to the viewer.
• the current viewport 1708 of the communication device being used to browse the flyer is also shown in FIG. 17.
• the first implementation of the navigation strip is a directly proportional navigation strip 1710 in FIG. 17, which comprises of to-scale rendering of the flyer sections.
• each section may be replaced with a solid colour (in FIG. 17, the solid colour is white for clarity; however, other colours may be used) and may include the title of each section (e.g. the contextual information used to tag the polygon).
• the navigation strip may also show the approximate locations in the navigation strip.
• the navigation strip 1710 conveys contextual information in the most true to position and to-scale format without simply using scaled-down images of the flyer page 1700.
• FIG. 18 One method to create the directly proportional navigation strip 1710 is illustrated in FIG. 18.
• the polygons are first scaled down by applying a scaling factor (i.e. 1800 in FIG. 18). While the same scaling factor may be applied to x and y axis of the polygons, it is to be understood that different scaling factors may be used. This has the advantage of optimizing the screen space occupied by the navigation strip 1710.
• the scaling factor for the x-axis may depend on the width of the polygon and the length of the associated label, and the scaling factor for the y-axis may depend on the height of the polygon.
• the polygons may be aligned along a grid to produce a more organized appearance.
• the scaled down polygons are then labelled with the contextual information corresponding to the contextual information of the polygon (i.e. 1802 in FIG. 18). For example, where the polygon is tagged with the label "Electronics", the system extracts this contextual information and labels the scaled polygon accordingly. Thereafter, the scaled down polygons are displayed in the navigation interface (i.e. 1804 in FIG. 18).
• the navigation interface may be located below the flyer page 1700, which may be hidden when not in use. In another implementation, the navigation interface may be located to the side of the flyer page 1700, for example to display the table of content.
• flyer page may be plotted using the scaling factor as reference.
• the current viewport information may be displayed on the navigation strip 1710 using the same scaling factor.
• the navigation strip 1710 may change position (e.g. scroll) to maintain perspective and context of the flyer page.
• a second implementation of the navigation strip is a text-only proportional navigation strip 1720 in FIG. 17.
• This navigation strip is a variation of the directly proportional navigation strip 17 0 but one that requires less vertical space.
• the text -only proportional navigation strip 1720 is a vertically compressed version of the directly proportional navigation strip 1710 that compresses the y-axis while maintaining the proportion along the x-axis.
• One method of creating the text-only proportional navigation strip 1720 is an extension of the method for creating the directly proportional navigation strip 1710 as discussed above and depicted in FIG. 18.
• a scaling factor is applied to the polygon (i.e. 1900 and 1912 in FIGs. 19A and 19B, respectively).
• the scaling factor for the x and y-axis need not be different to optimize the screen space occupied by the navigation strip. This is because the vertical space will be compressed subsequently and only the proportion along the x-axis will be maintained.
• the polygons may be aligned along a grid to produce a more organized appearance.
• the scaled polygons are then labelled with the contextual information corresponding to the polygon, with the labels being positioned at a reference point of the polygons (i.e. 1902 and 1914 in FIGs. 19A and 19B, respectively).
• the reference point may be anywhere within the polygonal area defined by the polygon. Where the system language is English, the reference point may be the top left corner as shown in 1914 of FIG. 19B.
• a bounding box is created around the label (i.e. 1904 and 1916 in FIGs. 19A and 19B, respectively) and the scaled polygons are removed (i.e. 1906 in FIG. 19A).
• the polygons are used to maintain proportion of the contextual information along the x-axis.
• each label (and the bounding box) for each polygon is displaced in a reference direction, stopping if the bounding box of the labeling text encounters a bounding box of another labeling text or an edge of the navigation strip 1720 (i.e. 1908 and 1918 in FIGs. 19A and 19B, respectively).
• the reference direction may in any direction; however, where the system language is English, the reference direction may be up as shown in FIG. 19B.
• the interactive flyer system may add the points of interest. However, because of the lack of vertical space, the interactive flyer system may instead use a vertical line to indicate the approximate location of the points of interest. In another embodiment, parentheses may be inserted after the labeling text. For example, if the points of interest referred to a discount, the parenthesis may display "2 discounts", signifying that there are 2 discounts in the particular section. Finally, similarly to the directly proportional navigation strip 1710, the interactive flyer system may insert the current viewport information appropriately scaled.
• the third implementation is the vertically most compact navigation strip, hereinafter referred to as area proportional navigation strip 730 in FIG. 7. It involves transforming the 2D polygonal areas defined by the polygons into a 1 D navigation strip.
• FIG. 20 illustrates one implementation of performing such transformation.
• the system determines the scaling factor that relates the polygonal area defined by the polygon to the distance on the navigation strip (i.e. 2000 in FIG. 20).
• the area proportional navigation strip 1730 is horizontal in direction; however, it is to be understood that the 1D navigation strip may be vertical in direction, or any other direction, in other implementations.
• the scaling factor translates the polygonal area occupied by the polygons into horizontal distance on the navigation strip 1730.
• the polygons are ordered (i.e. 2002 in FIG. 20).
• the polygons may first be aligned along a grid to produce a more organized appearance.
• the interactive flyer system then creates a list of coordinates of each polygon, with the coordinate representing the top left most vertex of the polygon.
• the list is then ordered using the x-axis coordinate.
• the coordinates are ordered from top to bottom. For example, in the flyer page 1700 of FIG.
• the interactive flyer system starts with the first polygon in the ordered list.
• the scaling factor is applied to the polygonal area of the first polygon. This process is repeated until all the polygons in the ordered list are converted.
• the viewport information may also be included in the navigation strip 1730 using the scaling factor.
• Contextual information conveyed through polygon mapping enabled the viewer to overview the entire flyer at a glance and to navigate to different sections of the flyer using the contextual information.
• the table of contents generated by analyzing the hierarchical structure of the polygons allowed the interactive flyer system to quickly generate a flyer summary (e.g. table of contents).
• the polygon mapping enabled the generation of navigational aids (e.g. contextual navigation strip) that conveyed meaningful and useful contextual information.
• the polygon mapping may also allow the system to relate the contextual information of the flyer to information not contained in the flyer.
• the related information may be from a flyer at a competing store, allowing the viewer to comparison shop.
• the related information may be information that would be desirable to informed shoppers. Such information may include price history, product reviews, price comparison data not contained in other flyers, cross border prices, targeted advertising and offers, and many more.
• the first type of related information derives from other flyers. By using the information from the polygon mapping, related information contained in other flyers can be easily associated. This allows flyer viewers to comparison shop between flyers very easily. One implementation for providing such related information will be discussed using FIGs. 21 and 22.
• the interactive flyer system retrieves all related digital flyers. Relevance may be based on a single factor or a combination of several factors. For example, the interactive flyer system may retrieve all the flyers within the same geographical area, or flyers from stores with online shopping. This "initial set" of flyers is then ordered based on relevancy, which may also be based on one or many factors (i.e. 2102 in FIG. 21).
• the system may take into consideration the following: physical distance between the stores of the related flyers and the store of the current flyer or the viewer's location; brand awareness of the related flyers; previous preference or history of the viewer; behaviour history of other viewers; business relationships between the publisher of the flyer and the vendor; contextual similarities between the related flyers and the current flyer; store relationships (e.g. known competitors or affiliates); or any other factors.
• the interactive flyer system displays the retrieved flyers in the related information interface to provide access to the relevant digital flyers in the order of relevancy (i.e. 2104 in FIG. 21).
• the interface may be a simple link to allow the viewer to switch to the most relevant flyer.
• FIG. 22 is an extension of the area proportional navigation strip (i.e. 1730 in FIG. 17) as described above. It will be understood that the interface may also be implemented using extensions of the directly and text-only proportional navigation strip (i.e. 1710 and 1720 in FIG. 17). In the particular implementation shown in FIG.
• the interactive flyer system in addition to generating the navigation strip for the current flyer, the interactive flyer system also generates the navigation strip for the next most relevant flyer. This allows the viewer to jump from one flyer to another seamlessly.
• intra-flyer navigation i.e. within the flyer
• inter-flyer navigation i.e. between flyers
• the generated navigation strip is kept in memory so that inter-flyer navigation is possible not only to the next flyer but also to previously viewed flyers.
• the relative position of the navigation strip of the next flyer may be changed depending on the position of the viewport.
• the position of the next flyer in the navigation strip may be changed such that its "Electronics" section is aligned with the current flyer, as shown in FIG. 22. The same may be applied to the related flyer previously shown. This dynamic positioning of the navigation strip of the next flyer and the previous flyer allows the viewer to immediately jump into the most relevant section.
• the second type of related data stems from other data sources, outside of those contained in other flyers.
• Other sources may include public information (such as those available from the Internet), private information (such as those provided by partners) and sources other than flyers.
• the interactive flyer system may infer the viewer's interest by determining how the current viewport intersects with the polygons, the position of the mouse cursor, zoom level or any other clues.
• the interactive flyer system may retrieve related data such as price comparison data, historical market pricing, cross-border comparisons, product details such as reviews, specifications and descriptions, and targeted advertisements and offers.
• the advantage is that such integration with other data sources is enabled without explicitly tagging individual items that appear on a flyer. Rather, the publisher only needs to convey contextual information using the polygons.
• the interactive flyer system may provide the viewer with the functionality to filter the interactive flyer based on data available not only within the flyer but also based on the other data. For example, consider the scenario where a shopper is searching for good deals on flat screen TVs. The shopper opens the digital interactive flyer and places a filter to search for "TV" with discounts greater than 25% off. The interactive flyer system proceeds to highlight the sections of the interactive flyer according to the filter. According to a further embodiment of the present technology, the interactive flyer system may provide the viewer with the option to set filters that also takes into account data from other flyers and other non-flyer sources. For example, the interactive flyer system may retrieve other TV discounts from other sources (e.g.
• the interactive flyer system may retrieve price history of the products contained in the TV section by consulting its or other database. In effect, the interactive flyer system allows the viewer to set search filters on digital image-based flyers that are normally only reserved for text based search engines.
• the interactive digital flyer system may incorporate one or more of such information within the same system. For example, interactive digital flyer may incorporate a table of content in a navigation interface and a navigational strip in another navigation interface.
• the interactive digital flyer may incorporate a table of content in a navigation interface and a modified text-only proportional navigational strip in a related information interface. It will be understood that numerous combinations of the navigational information and related information may be generated using the contextual information conferred by the polygon mapping information and other flyer-related information as discussed above.
• Feedback systems may be generally categorized into explicit and implicit feedback systems.
• Explicit feedback refers to resulting actions of the viewer, while implicit feedback refers to the viewer behaviour leading to the resulting actions.
• the viewer is presented with items 1-10. In coming to the decision of clicking on items 1 and 5, the viewer looks through items 1-5.
• An explicit feedback system would report back that the viewer clicked on items 1 and 5, while the implicit feedback system would report back that the viewer viewed items 1-5.
• an explicit feedback system is result oriented while an implicit feedback system is behaviour oriented.
• implicit feedback is made possible for image based digital flyers. Using the feedback information, a host of features are made possible including predictive caching, dynamic generation of points of interests, and viewer interest maps.
• One embodiment of a feedback system may be implemented by using the polygon mapping information stored in the feedback data store 250 as discussed above.
• Polygon mapping information includes one or more polygons that are used to define polygonal area(s), with each polygon being tagged with contextual information. The information conveyed by the tagged contextual information is dependent on the granularity of the polygon mapping information.
• the feedback data store 250 may also receive device information from the communication device, such as those shown in FIG. 1 , periodically. The device information conveys information about the communication device and the viewer.
• the device information may include information such as viewport information including viewport coordinates, date, time, session information, viewer information (such as IP address and locale information), information about the communication device (such as operating system and Internet browser information), or any other information.
• viewport information including viewport coordinates, date, time, session information, viewer information (such as IP address and locale information), information about the communication device (such as operating system and Internet browser information), or any other information.
• viewport coordinates (x1 , y1) and (x2, y2) in FIG. 23A of viewport e.g. 2300A in FIG. 23A
• the polygon mapping information the system is able to generate detailed feedback report.
• a digital flyer may include one or more sets of polygon mapping information. One set may be used to generate navigational and related information as discussed above. Another set may be used to generate a feedback report. This has the advantage of conveying one set of information for the flyer viewer, while collecting and comparing another set of information for the vendor.
• FIG. 23A shows the viewport information of viewport 2300A for a viewer at a particular point in time.
• This snapshot of the viewport is generated by referencing the device information (contained in the device information stored in the feedback data store 250) of the viewer at the particular point in time with the polygon mapping information stored in the flyer data store 240.
• the device information may be sent by the communication device, such as on a periodic basis, to the interactive flyer system 200 and stored in the feedback data store 250.
• there may be one or more such device information entries in the feedback data store 250 which can be used to construct the snapshot of the viewer's viewport at a particular point in time when the device information was sent.
• various feedback report may be generated using the device information from a single viewer, all the viewers or a selected group of viewers.
• the device information may contain user- persona information derived from the HTTP header, which can identify information such as screen resolution, operating system, and browser type and version.
• viewers may be grouped as "high-tech” viewers (e.g. viewers with large screen resolution, latest operating system and browser versions) or "office” viewers (e.g. viewers with standard business versions such as typical screen sizes and browsers as determined by the system, and viewing the digital flyer at business hours).
• the concept of pageview is used to generate a feedback report.
• Pageview refers to the number of views that a polygon received.
• the polygon demarcates a polygonal area that conveys contextual information about products and items contained within the polygonal area.
• the user may, for the purpose of generating feedback information, provide a separate set of polygon mapping information that contains more detailed information to generate a more detailed and insightful feedback report.
• pageview represents viewer's interests in the content contained in the polygonal area of a polygon. In one extreme, where the viewport does not include any polygon, none of the pageview of the polygons will be varied.
• the viewport may intersect one or more polygons and the pageview of each polygons may be varied depending on various factors including relative viewport position, weighing factors and typical screen sizes of viewers.
• the feedback data analyzer 260 determines the area of each polygons 2302, 2304 and 2306 proportional to the viewport 2300A.
• the feedback data analyzer 260 may determine that polygons 2302, 2304 and 2306 occupy 0.2, 0.5 and 0.3 of the available area in the viewport 2300A.
• the pageview of each polygon may be incremented by the proportion of the viewport area occupied (i.e. 0.2, 0.5 and 0.3).
• the proportional area i.e. proportion of the viewport area occupied by the polygon
• the proportional area may be varied by a multiple.
• the feedback data analyzer 260 may consider other factors. For example, because of the varying screen sizes of viewers, the feedback data analyzer 260 may normalize the feedback information using a typical viewport 2310. In this context, normalization refers to the process of averaging out the feedback information to remove the skewing effects of extreme data sets. Because viewport 2300A may be changed by the viewer, the pageview for the polygon may be skewed. Referring to FIG. 23B, the viewer may have decreased the viewport 2300B to occupy only a small portion of the available screen real estate. In this configuration, the viewport 2300B will generate multiple pageviews for polygon 2304.
• one implementation would be to vary the proportional area by a weighting factor, such as a ratio between the viewport size and the typical viewport 2310. So, if viewport 2300B was determined to have an area of 1 , while the area of the typical viewport 2310 is 100, the pageview generated by the viewport 2300B would have a weighing factor of only 0.01. Thus, the pageviews generated by the viewport 2300B would be made marginal.
• a weighting factor such as a ratio between the viewport size and the typical viewport 2310.
• the weighting factor may be dependent on the differential area between the viewport and the typical viewport 2310.
• the area within the typical viewport 2310 may be weighed at 100% while the area between the typical viewport 2310 and the viewport 2300A may be weighed at 50%, or another reduced percentage.
• the area between the viewport 2300B and the typical viewport 2310 may be weighed at a negative value (e.g. -50%) to account for the multiple pageviews generated by such small viewport 2300B.
• the system generates a feedback report by retrieving device information from a feedback data store 250 (i.e. 2400 in FIG. 24).
• the device information may include viewport information associated with a viewport of a communication device and may include a variety information such as, but not limited to, viewport coordinates, date, time, session information, viewer information (such as IP address or geographic locale information), information about the communication device (such as operating system used by the communication device, or Internet browser used by the communication device), or any other information.
• the system also retrieves polygon mapping information from a flyer data store 240 (i.e. 2402 in FIG. 24).
• the polygon mapping information includes one or more polygons that each define a polygonal area with each polygon being tagged with contextual information.
• the system determines, for each polygon in the polygon mapping information, a proportion of the viewport area that it occupies (i.e. 2404 in FIG. 24). With the determined proportional area occupied by the polygon, the pageview associated with each polygon is varied (i.e. 2406 in FIG. 24). In one implementation, the pageview is varied by a multiple of the proportional area. In another implementation, the pageview is varied by the proportional area and corrected by a weighting factor.
• An exemplary weighting factor may be a ratio between the viewport area and a typical viewport 2310. Another exemplary weighting factor may depend on the differential area between the viewport and the typical viewport 2310.
• the system uses the pageview information, the system then generates a feedback report (i.e. 2408 in FIG. 24).
• the feedback report generated may be a simple output of the pageview associated with each of the polygon
• a more advanced implementation may be possible by using the device information and the polygon information stored in the feedback data store 250 and the flyer data store 240.
• FIG. 25 illustrates a feedback report 2500 in the form of a frequency map.
• a frequency map may also be referred to as a heat map or impression report.
• the polygon mapping information used to convey contextual information and used to generate navigational information and related information as discussed above is overlaid with the feedback information in the form of colouration to produce the feedback report 2500.
• the intensity of colouration depicts a higher viewing activity by the viewers.
• the colouration in FIG. 25 depicts the number of pageviews determined by the feedback data analyzer 260, the colouration may also depict other information. For example, the colouration may depict the average time spent by viewers in the given polygon.
• a different set of polygon mapping information may be used to generate the feedback report.
• the publisher may have defined a second set of polygon mapping information that contains more granular information.
• the "Electronics" and the "TV" sections are further broken down to the product level using a second set of polygon mapping information.
• the vendor is able to obtain a feedback report 2600 that is more detailed than the feedback report 2500 in FIG. 25.
• date, time, elapsed time and session information contained in the device information may be used to create a feedback report that reflects the viewer's viewing activity over a course of a session.
• This may include information aggregating a plurality of viewers, who may be grouped according to the device information. For example, viewers in a particular geographic locale may be grouped.
• the device information may include information related to the communication device (e.g. browser or operating system information extracted from HTTP header) to group users into different categories as discussed above.
• a series of feedback report representing viewer's activity at different points in time may be generated.
• the series of generated feedback report may be used as frames in a time-elapsed frequency map.
• feedback information is generated by taking advantage of the flyer image tile set as described above. While this embodiment will be described separately from the feedback system using polygon mapping information as discussed referring to FIGs. 23-26, it will be understood that the two embodiments may be implemented as a single system by leveraging a combination of information conveyed through polygon mapping information, flyer image tile sets served, and device information.
• the interactive flyer system 200 provides an initial viewscore to each tile (i.e. 2700 in FIG. 27).
• each tile may be assigned an initial viewscore of 0.
• the system 200 not only retrieves the tile but also varies the viewscore (i.e. 2702 in FIG. 27).
• the magnitude of variation may depend on the relative position of the tile in the viewport. For example, an image tile at the centre of the viewport may be assigned a higher magnitude of variation than an image tile at the edge of the viewport. In another implementation, the magnitude of variation may depend on the zoom level of the tile.
• image tiles at deeper zoom level may be assigned a higher magnitude of variation since serving such tiles signifies greater interest from the viewer.
• the magnitude of variation may depend on viewer events such as zoom-in, click, and time spent.
• variation refers to both increase and decrease of the viewscore.
• the system 200 may also note the date and time when the viewscore was varied.
• the viewscore is then stored in the feedback data store 250 (i.e. 2704 in FIG. 27). Storing of the viewscore may be initiated periodically at pre-defined intervals.
• the feedback data store 250 contains the viewscore associated with the flyer image tiles, which provides information related to the behaviour of the viewer. Such implicit feedback information may be valuable information to both the vendor and the publisher, which was not possible with previous digital flyer system.
• the collected information may be exported in a text format or displayed in a textual representation such as a table.
• the viewscore may be used to produce a frequency map that gives a visual representation of the interest level of the viewer.
• FIG. 28 shows an example of such frequency map, which may also be referred to as coloured frequency map, heat map, or impression report.
• the feedback report 2800 of FIG. 28 shows viewer interests depicted by different colour schemes.
• area 2802 and 2804 received 50-100 hits from the viewers, while area 2806 received 100-500 hits from the viewers.
• the area of the flyer page that received the most attention is area 2808, which received 500+ hits. This type of report illustrates the behaviour of the viewers and is made possible by plotting the viewscore of each tile.
• the feedback data store 250 may also keep the date and time at which the viewscores were incremented or decremented. By storing the date and time at which the viewscores changed, a timeline-based feedback report may be provided. In a further embodiment, the feedback data store 250 may keep the IP address of the viewer to distinguish between unique/repeat viewers, and locales of the viewers. By varying the type of data collected along with the viewscore, various data may be made available on the feedback report.
• the system 200 may leverage the polygon mapping information stored in the flyer data store 240 to provide a feedback report such as the one shown in FIGs. 25 or 26.
• the system 200 may summate the viewscore of the tiles in each polygonal area and provide a feedback report 2500 or 2600 that describes the relative interest level of each section.
• the information stored in the feedback data store 250 may be used to improve the quality of the data.
• information in the feedback data store 250 may be used to validate the points of interests (such as 1702, 1704 and 1706 in FIG. 17) stored in the flyer data store 240.
• the system 200 may analyze the behaviour of the viewer using the information stored in the feedback data store 250. With this analysis, the system 200 may remove or keep the existing points of interests.
• the flyer is generating a lot of interests in an area that was not initially tagged as a point of interest, the system 200 may dynamically tag the area as a point of interest. In effect, the interactive flyer system 200 is able to react to the behaviour of the viewers in real time. Consequently, the quality of the data managed by the system is vastly improved.
• the information stored in the feedback data store 250 may be provided to the polygon mapping module 230.
• the feedback information may be provided to the user using the interface for defining the polygon mapping information. This may be in the form of an indication that informs the user, at the time of the polygon mapping, including defining points of interests, which sections or products have previously attracted much attention from viewers. Through such information, vendors would be able to accurately predict viewer's interests and highlight information knowing that it would attract much attention from the viewers.
• the polygon mapping module 230 may use the feedback information to define the polygon mapping information, including points of interests, based on predetermined information, such as vendor-published agreed format, as previously discussed.
• the interactive flyer system 200 may include a pre-loading module that efficiently pre-loads the flyer image tiles. Due to limited memory space on communication devices (e.g. communication devices 102, 104 and 106 in FIG. 1) on which the digital flyer may be displayed, flyer image tiles should be efficiently stored. For example, a single flyer image tile may be 256 pixels by 256 pixels, with each pixel being 4 bytes. This means that each image tile would require 256KB of memory. In a digital flyer having multiple flyer images, with each flyer image representing each page of the digital flyer, the flyer image tiler 210 may create hundreds of flyer image tiles for the full digital flyer (i.e. the flyer image tile set includes multiple copies of the flyer image at different zoom level, with each copy segmented into flyer image tiles). Thus, even with modern communication devices having large memory capacity, there is a real likelihood of communication devices running out of memory.
• a pre-loading module that efficiently pre-loads the flyer image tiles. Due to limited memory space on communication
• feedback information may be used to improve the efficiency of the interactive flyer system 200.
• a high quality version of the flyer was downloaded either in full or page-by-page.
• a lower quality of the image may have been initially downloaded to provide a preview before downloading the full version.
• the full image was downloaded even when the viewers never in fact looked at the entire image.
• caching prediction did not change with viewer's behaviour.
• predictive caching is based on implicit feedback information. Additionally, or alternatively, predictive caching is based on the contextual information conferred through polygon mapping information.
• caching prediction may be based on the viewscores assigned to the image tiles. Since high viewscores signify high level of viewing activity, the interactive flyer system 200 may preemptively retrieve those image tiles. This is under the assumption that by caching those image tiles, a high cache hit rate would be realized.
• caching prediction may be based on the pageview assigned to each polygon and pre-emptively caching flyer image tiles associated with the polygons having high pageviews. Moreover, since viewscores and pageviews are updated with viewer's behaviour, the predictive caching would also dynamically vary with the viewer's behaviour. Thus, the interactive flyer system can stay nimble and efficient by constantly changing to the viewer's interests.
• the interactive flyer system 200 may retrieve flyer image tiles (for caching) under the assumption that the viewer is likely to browse to the surrounding area of the flyer. For example, referring to FIG. 29, a tiled flyer image 2900 with viewport 2902 is shown. With the current position of the viewport 2902, the interactive flyer system 200 would retrieve the tiled flyer images as shown in the shaded portion 2904. However, after retrieval of the shaded portion 2904, the interactive flyer system 200 may further retrieve tiled flyer images in the surrounding portion 2906 under the assumption that the viewer is likely to pan to the surrounding area. The interactive flyer system 200 may also determine the direction or speed of travel of the viewport 2902, or both.
• the interactive flyer system 200 may retrieve the appropriate shaded portion. For example, if the viewport 2902 was moving to the right (e.g. due to a panning action) at velocity A, the interactive flyer system 200 may retrieve two columns of flyer tiles to the right of the viewport 2902. In another example, if the viewport 2902 was moving to the right at velocity B (B>A), the interactive flyer system 200 may retrieve four columns of flyer tiles to the right of the viewport 2902 since flyer tiles would need to be retrieved at a faster rate. Additionally, or alternatively, the interactive flyer system 200 may also consider the zooming rate to retrieve one or more extra deeper levels of zoom contained within the viewport 2902.
• the interactive flyer system 200 may incorporate the contextual information provided by the polygon mapping information. For example, referring to FIG. 30, flyer page 3000 with polygons 3002, 3004, 3006 and 3008 is shown. By considering the viewer's current viewport 3010, the interactive flyer system 200 may retrieve all the tiled flyer images within the polygon 3006. Under this predictive caching scheme, the interactive flyer system 200 may assume that the viewer will continue to view items that belong to the same context (i.e. within the polygon 3006). For example, if the viewer's viewport is currently within the "Electronics" section, it is likely that the viewer will continue to peruse through the "Electronics" section or, perhaps, continue to a related section.
• the flyer image processor may further retrieve tiled flyer data images of nearby polygons. For example, if the viewport 3010 is closer to the top edge of polygon 3006, the interactive flyer system 200 may retrieve tiled flyer images in the polygon 3002.
• the flyer image processor may further retrieve tiled flyer data images of nearby polygons. For example, if the viewport 3010 is closer to the top edge of polygon 3006, the interactive flyer system 200 may retrieve tiled flyer images in the polygon 3002.
• the system may consider both contextual and implicit feedback information to determine the order in which the tile images are cached.
• predictive caching may be associated with the relative position and movement of the viewport (i.e. image tiles and zoom level), the polygon mapping and the aggregate popularity derived from the implicit feedback.
• tiles that are closer to the centre of the viewport and at the current zoom level may be assigned a higher caching score. From thereon, tiles at the same zoom level but further from the centre of the viewport may be assigned a lower caching score.
• the system may also assign caching scores to tiles that are located deeper in the zoom levels, with the scores being varied depending on their proximity to the centre of the viewport.
• the system may also consider the polygon mapping and the implicit feedback information to arrive at a holistic predictive scheme that is not only dependent on the current viewer but also the aggregate popularity of the flyer based on other viewers.
• the interactive flyer system 200 includes a pre-loading module that retrieves one or more flyer image tiles that are associated with the most zoomed-out state (i.e. 3100 in FIG. 31).
• the retrieved tiles may have been received from a server (e.g. server 160 in FIG. 1 or any other server that may implement an embodiment of the technology disclosed in the present disclosure) and loaded into the memory.
• the retrieved tiles are associated with an underlay viewport 3200 that contains the flyer image tiles at the lowest resolution (i.e.
• the digital flyer comprises at least one set of flyer image tiles for the different viewport resolutions. Each set includes multiple copies of the flyer image at different resolutions for the varying zoom levels, with each copy of the flyer image being segmented into flyer image tiles.
• the flyer image shown in the current viewport 3202 changes. For example, the viewer may pan or zoom and the current viewport 3202 may retrieve and display the corresponding copy of the flyer image tiles (e.g. flyer image tile 3210 in FIG. 32) from the flyer image tile set.
• the flyer image tiles visible in the current viewport 3202 may change. These flyer image tiles that are visible in the current viewport 3202 are retrieved from the memory (i.e. 3102 in FIG. 31). As in the flyer image tiles associated with the underlay viewport, the flyer image tiles visible in the current viewport 3202 may have been received from the server.
• the interactive flyer system 200 displays a portion of the flyer image tiles in the underlay viewport 3200 that is visible in the current viewport 3202 and overlays onto that portion, flyer image tiles for the zoom level associated with the current viewport 3202 and visible in the current viewport 3202 (i.e. 3104 and 3106 in FIG. 31). The advantage of this method will be described using FIGs. 32 and 33.
• flyer image tiles at the lower zoom level are retrieved (e.g. from the flyer image tile store 220) and displayed in the current viewport 3202. If the viewer decides to pan right (as shown by arrow 3300), the interactive flyer system 200 would soon have to retrieve flyer image tiles in columns 3312 and 3314. Without pre-loading the flyer image tiles in columns 3312 and 3314, there may be a momentary lapse in flyer image being shown in the viewport 3202 until the flyer image tiles in columns 3312 and 3314 are retrieved.
• the underlay viewport 3200 contains the flyer image at the lowest resolution and serves as the base image on which the flyer image tiles in the current viewport 3202 are displayed, there is no interruption in the flyer image being shown. While the flyer image tiles contained in the underlay viewport 3200 are lower resolution of the required flyer image, the flyer image tiles provide a good representation of the flyer image tiles being loaded. This is made possible since there is no difference in content between the multiple copies of the flyer image tiles in the flyer image tile set; rather, the image tiles for the different zoom levels are at different resolutions.
• the viewer first sees the flyer image of the low resolution flyer image tile 3210, while the interactive flyer system 200 retrieves the flyer image tiles in columns 3312 and 3314.
• the flyer image tiles in columns 3312 and 3314 are retrieved, they are drawn on top of the flyer image tile 3210 as shown in FIG. 33.
• the result is an interactive flyer system 200 that provides for a more refined experience for the viewer while giving the illusion of fast load time for the flyer image tiles. While FIG. 32 has been described using the viewport 3202 moving in the right direction, it will be understood that the viewport 3202 may move in a variety of direction.
• flyer image tiles may be retrieved in a variety of different ways.
• the flyer image tiles may be retrieved in one or more than one columns or rows, or may be retrieved selectively.
• the pre-loading module contains an underlay viewport 3200 that contains the flyer image tiles of the viewport at the most zoomed-out position.
• the flyer image tile set includes multiple copies of the flyer image, the copy associated with the most zoomed-out position being configured to fit within the viewport.
• the digital flyer is comprised of many flyer images (e.g. each flyer image comprising one or more pages of the digital flyer), one or more of such flyer images are configured to fit within the viewport at the most zoomed-out view.
• the underlay viewport 3200 contains the flyer image tiles for the most zoomed-out view of the flyer image while the current viewport 3202 displays the flyer image tiles depending on the viewer's action.
• FIG. 34A further displays the flyer image tiles relevant to the current viewport 3202.
• the interactive flyer system 200 need not pre-load the flyer image tiles in columns 3312 and 3314 since the flyer image tile 3210 is included in the pre-loading module through the underlay viewport 3200. While the flyer image tiles in columns 3312 and 3314 are loaded into the current viewport 3202, the flyer image tile 3210 is shown in the current viewport 3202, which eliminates any lapse in flyer image being shown in the current viewport 3202. However, if the viewer does an action to pan to the right at an extreme velocity, there may be a situation when the current viewport 3202 crosses an area outside of the underlay viewport 3200 as shown in FIG. 34B.
• the pre-loading module may pre-load flyer image tiles based on the action of the viewer.
• the pre-loading module may load the flyer image tiles in columns 3312 and 3314, the flyer image tile 3404, or the flyer images tiles in columns 3400, 3402, or a combination thereof.
• the pre-loading module may consider the direction or speed of travel of the viewport, or the zooming rate of the viewport in determining which flyer image tiles to pre-load.
• the interactive flyer system 200 may establish a relationship between underlay viewport 3200 and the current viewport 3202. For example, based on the zoom level ratio between the underlay viewport 3200 and the current viewport 3202, the viewer's panning action may be translated to the underlay viewport 3200. Referring back to the zoom levels discussed in FIG. 8 or 9, if the current viewport 3202 is at 12x zoom level and the underlay viewport 3200 is at 1x zoom level, the interactive flyer system 200 may translate the viewer's action at 1/12 the rate to the underlay viewport 3200.
• the translation ratio may be any value appropriate for the underlay and current viewport 3200 and 3202.
• both the current viewport 3202 and the underlay viewport 3200 would move at the same time, except that the underlay viewport 3200 would move at a slower rate (e.g. 1/12th the rate).
• a slower rate e.g. 1/12th the rate.
• the underlay viewport 3200 moves with the current viewport 3202 based on the determined relationship.
• the flyer image tiles contained in the underlay viewport 3200 is updated based on the viewer's action.
• pre-loading module has been described with a specific embodiment, it will be understood that any combination of the disclosed embodiments may be used.
• the flyer image tile set 3600 includes a copy of the flyer image at 1x resolution and 2.29x resolution and the flyer image tile set 3610 includes a copy of the flyer image at 1x resolution and 2x resolution.
• the flyer image tile set 3610 because the flyer image tile set comprises of power of 2 tiles, tiles in each zoom level overlap the tiles in the next zoom level.
• FIG. 36B when the shaded flyer tile from the tile set 3610 at 1x zoom level is loaded and shown in the viewport, the tile from the tile set 3610 at 2x zoom level is fully overlapped.
• an interactive flyer system 200 including flyer image tile set as in tile set 3610 (e.g.
• the memory management module determines that memory management is required (i.e. 3700 in FIG. 37). In one embodiment, the memory management module may determine whether a trigger for memory management has been satisfied with the trigger being based on a number of criteria, for example, a pre-determined memory capacity threshold or a predetermined elapsed time since last memory management. The memory management module then orders the flyer image tiles stored in memory in z-order (i.e. 3702 in FIG. 37). As illustrated in FIG. 3, the interactive flyer includes a geometry layer that contains spatial information. In one embodiment, the spatial information is based on a Cartesian coordinate system relative to the viewport.
• the Cartesian coordinate system may also define a z-space that is orthogonal to the viewport. In other words, the z-axis goes into or out of the viewport.
• the memory management module orders the flyer image tiles stored in memory according to the z-order relative to the viewport as seen by the viewer.
• the flyer image tiles may be ordered from 1st to nth z-order layer, where the 1 st z-order layer includes flyer image tiles at the top of the z-order and the nth z-order layer includes flyer image tiles at the bottom of the z-order.
• the flyer image tiles would be ordered from the perspective of the viewer as seen through the current viewport - i.e.
• first layer seen by the viewer is represented by 1st z-order layer.
• the z-order may be based on Internet layering standards, such as those in HTML, wherein higher z-order numbers overlap the lower z-order numbers. Embodiments in this disclosure will be described using the first standard, with the z-order numbering being based on the viewer's perspective.
• the memory management module determines the flyer image tiles in memory covered by the top order flyer image tiles (i.e. 3704 in FIG. 37). In one embodiment, the memory management module determines the covered portion by determining portion of the flyer images tiles intersected by the top order flyer image tiles. The covered portion of the flyer image tiles are removed from the memory since they are not visible to the viewer as the viewer sees the top order flyer image tiles (i.e. 3706 in FIG. 37).
• FIG. 38A a display 3800 having a viewport 3802 is shown.
• a partially loaded tiled flyer image 3804 is shown.
• the flyer image tiles shown in FIGs. 38A-38E have been simplified.
• the interactive flyer system 200 implementing one or more embodiments in the present disclosure may contain and display more complex sets of flyer images tiles and varying viewport sizes.
• the memory management module may remove the other tiles from the memory. The method for such memory management will now be discussed using FIGs. 38B- 38E.
• the tiled flyer image 3804 is shown with one of the four tiles loaded in memory.
• the tiles from the tiled flyer image 3804 are the top order image tiles and any flyer image tiles below (i.e. lower in z-order) the tiled flyer image 3804 would not be visible to the viewer. Since the portion of the tiles from the tiled flyer image 3806 in the shaded portion would not be visible to the viewer, the memory management module removes that portion from memory. This is visually shown in FIG. 38B.
• the second tile from the tiled flyer image 3804 is loaded and any tiles below the second tile would no longer be visible in the viewport.
• the memory management module removes the covered portion of the tiled flyer image 3806 as depicted in FIG. 38C.
• the third tile from the tiled flyer image 3804 is loaded and the portion of the tiled flyer image 3806 covered by the loaded third tile is removed from memory.
• the fourth tile from the tiled flyer image 3804 is not required or is currently being loaded, the only portion of the tiled flyer image 3806 remaining in memory would be that as shown in FIG. 38E.
• the shaded portion 3808 that was initially in memory is released from the memory and made available to the interactive flyer system 200.
• the memory management module works to release portions of the memory that is no longer needed. While the foregoing was discussed in isolation, it will be understood that the memory management module may work in conjunction with the pre-loading module to efficiently manage valuable memory space in communication devices by pre-loading flyer image tiles and removing unnecessary flyer image tiles.
• each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s).
• the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.
• An algorithm is generally, considered to be a self-consistent sequence of acts or operations leading to a desired result. These include physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers or the like. It should be understood, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities.
• Apparatus within the scope of the present disclosure can be implemented in a computer program product tangibly embodied in a machine-readable storage medium for execution by a programmable processor; and method actions within the scope of the present disclosure can be performed by a programmable processor executing a program of instructions to perform functions of the present disclosure by operating on input data and generating output.
• Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure may be implemented advantageously in one or more computer programs that are executable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a data storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device.
• Each computer program can be implemented in a high-level procedural or object oriented programming language, or in assembly or machine language if desired; and in any case, the language can be a compiled or interpreted language.
• Suitable processors include, by way of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors.
• a processor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory and/or a random access memory.
• a computer will include one or more mass storage devices for storing data files.
• Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure include computer-readable media for carrying or having computer-executable instructions, computer-readable instructions, or data structures stored thereon. Such computer-readable media may be any available media, which is accessible by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer system.
• Examples of computer- readable media may include physical storage media such as RAM, ROM, EPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media which can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions, computer-readable instructions, or data structures and which may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer system. Any of the foregoing can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits). It should be understood that embodiments of the present disclosure may be used in a variety of applications. Although the present disclosure is not limited in this respect, the methods disclosed herein may be used in many apparatuses such as in the transmitters, receivers and transceivers of a radio system.
• Radio systems intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure include, by way of example only, cellular radiotelephone communication systems, satellite communication systems, two-way radio communication systems, one-way pagers, two-way pagers, personal communication systems (PCS), personal digital assistants (PDA's), notebook computers in wireless local area networks (WLAN), wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), wireless wide area networks (WWAN), or wireless personal area networks (WPAN, and the like).
• PCS personal communication systems
• PDA's personal digital assistants
• WLAN wireless local area networks
• WMAN wireless metropolitan area networks
• WWAN wireless wide area networks
• WPAN wireless personal area networks

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